SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

“COME BACK SOON” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #63

Chinnappa’s neighbour had come to the station to see him off. As the train chugged off from the small town of Kudappah, he bade good bye and said, “Okay. See you then. Keep in touch. Best wishes as always.”  Chinnappa was very sad in leaving his village. He was migrating to Pune, a bigger city for better prospects. Failure of monsoon coupled with depleting ground water, rising costs of farming, and the mounting debts … all led to widespread starvation and suicides in the village. Many peasants had abandoned their lands and migrated to ...

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“SWIM OR SINK YOUR CHOICE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #62

Shreyas was very happy and also sad at the same time. He was very happy because he was informed that he got selected in the interview he attended earlier and should join duty at their Delhi office. He was sad for the reason that, at that point of time there was no body at home with whom he could share the sweet news. His friends were not in town and his parents, particularly his mother had gone to temple. Only his grandfather was there. Grandfather was actually not his original grandfather, but that original grandfather’s youngest brother—hi...

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“GOLDEN BANGLE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #61

Raghuram was waiting at the lounge of Hotel Solitaire, a famous five-star hotel in the city. He was waiting for his colleagues to assemble there for Brunch. It was an official meeting and was generally being conducted there every quarter. While a few had already turned up, some more were yet to join. He was very particular about punctuality. Unfortunately, others took it casually. Even if it were to be a get together just for eating, it was an official meeting. His assistant Subhash generally used to handle such meeting and eating. But he ha...

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“ORIGINAL AND NOT SECOND SERVING” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #60

Kalidas was sitting in front of the Dean of the hospital. He had recently admitted a pregnant lady in a very critical condition. She was one of the victims he saved from the ravaged gushing floods, coupled with chopping winds and heavy downpour. It was a tremendous job for him to wade through racing currents and whirlpools. He had virtually lifted and packed her on his back with her back on his back, so that her baby-bump was not suppressed. A miraculous escape for both, from the very mouth of death! How they survived God only knows! That wa...

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“I LOVE THIS VILLAGE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #59

Suryakant was under orders of transfer and would be leaving the village shortly. People were not happy that the present bank manager was leaving them. They were very apprehensive about the incoming officer. They were quite pleased with the existing manager, his style of functioning, easy access to him, eagerness in redressal of grievances, customer-care relationship etc. He was alone here as his wife and son were at America. Put up in a small village, there was not much of social life for him. The manager willingly dedicated all his time for...

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“NIRMALA” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #58

“Not your father. You are Yamadoot. You are Yamakinkara.” Arjun’s words were ringing in her ears. He considered the two characters as highly negative and he referred to her nature also highly negative. Earlier she had told him that her father was an LIC agent and people avoided considering as Yamadoot, Yamakinkara. Arjun might say anything. Who cared? Nirmala was seriously jotting down points into a separate folder created for the purpose in her laptop. A lot of copy-paste exercise. Arjun came to her cubicle and sat by her side. She immedi...

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“PESTERING NUISANCE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #57

Neelakantan asked his son Mohan to get him an apple and one orange. Mohan went to the kitchen to ask his wife. He knew it might not be there. Still, if one was there, that would suffice for the day. She made a wry face and told him bluntly. “How do you expect fruits now? You know very well all the fruits brought yesterday and the day before had gone into the fruit salad. You yourself found them insufficient. Was it not so? You always invite such great foodies for parties! Was anything left behind for you or me? Now, you are asking apple–ora...

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“CARROT HALWA” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #56

Savita was in no mood of listening to her mother’s sermons. Daily her mother keeps telling her daughter to devote some time for lending a hand in her kitchen chores. Savita was not against learning cookery or attending to kitchen chores. Her grouse was why only the women had to do this. As though they were cut for the job. The society had to change. After all, cookery by itself was not a bad option. ‘Why men do not enter this area’ was something intriguing her mind. Her father, uncle, nobody did any kitchen work. When Savita’s mother called...

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“V5 OURS 50” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #55

Vineet was very happy that he could get a suitable name for their unique club. He along with his other four friends namely, Anuraag, Bhargav, Chaitanya and Dhruv had started a ‘give back’ club as a tribute to their Guru --- ‘Moorthy Sir’. Their policy was --- Each one had to adopt ten dull students …. Dull not by their brains but by their attitude, then motivate them and coach them free of cost and bring forth their talents to the forefront. The caption V5 Ours 50 was very small catchy and attractive. All in the group had unanimously agreed ...

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“ONE NOUGHT EIGHT” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Praveenkumar came running to his father and sought refuge. His father guessed that his son had done something very drastic and punishable. Hence, he had come seeking asylum. Earlier also he had come once. That was some petty nuisance case. Those people went away after being compensated. Thank God! They spared him with mere cautioning. It appeared that this time it must be a much more serious one. His father just looked outside on the road if any gang was chasing him. Luckily, there was none. Then he closed the door and pacified Praveen and t...

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“SWEETHEART” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #54

I was caught in a serious problem. My job, name, fame, character, integrity, social esteem… all under threat. An amount of Rs 500000/- kept under my custody was stolen. I was taken to task. My boss gave me left and right and held me solely responsible for the theft. Knowing me for the last so many years as an honest and straight forward hard worker, my boss spared me and gave seven days’ time. Otherwise, I being the culprit, would be handed over to Police. A tight jeopardy for a law abiding, ‘middle- class morality’ fellow. Grief stricken, k...

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“HARIKRISHNAN” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #53

Harikrishnan was standing at the Marina Beach and staring at the waves coming with a great force and striking the shore as though they were about to knock down heavily and destroy everything on their way but they simply receded slowly, losing all of their valour. It appeared as though an opening batsman entered the field under heavy claps and with a lot of fanfare but ended his show with a tame duck. The funny part was that it was getting repeated innumerable times, …. Every time striking the shore with the same vigour and receding with the ...

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“FUTURE BECKONS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #52

Nitish was urging Selvakumar to join the college study tour to the picturesque Kulu Manali. For two reasons, he did not want to join those going for the college tour. One, it was not a compulsory one and two --- most importantly, he could not afford such luxuries in life --- at least not at this stage when he was studying on educational loan and for other expenses, depending on his father’s meagre income. But Nitish was forcing him to change his mind. He even offered to bear the cost of his share of picnic expenses. He repeatedly quoted the ...

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“JAIGOPAL” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #52

Jaigopal took out his tooth brush and applied toothpaste on it. The paste he was using was almost exhausted. He had to squeeze a lot to get enough paste on the brush. “Oh! shit.” He cursed himself and hated 0himself for not taking note of things till the very last minute. Some abstract inanimate things do foretell the coming events of the day. Opening the day with a bad note was not a good omen. Rest of the day might not go smoothly. Right then he checked other items like, soap, shampoo, shaving cream, hair gel, liquid detergent etc. They we...

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“RATH YAATRAA (CAR FESTIVAL)” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #51

Abhiram Panda was very happy that the rail tickets he booked for travelling to Puri, got confirmed. When he told his wife and son, both were quite excited, particularly the ‘Chhotu’ with his visible excitement. He exclaimed, “Aiyah! How nice! We will be able to go for Rath Yaatra this year. So many times, I had seen it on TV. Now I will be there witnessing the same directly. Baapu, you will be sweeping around the divine chariot and I will be pulling the it. Okay? I saw on TV like that. One person does the sweeping. Then on the swept clean p...

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